Alex McLeish begins reign at Forest with point against Crystal Palace

Saturday 29 December 2012 13.05 EST
First published on Saturday 29 December 2012 13.05 EST

Open and entertaining is not a description that has been used for many matches involving teams managed by Alex McLeish in recent seasons, and whether Nottingham Forest will continue to play with the positivity they showed here against Crystal Palace once the former Birmingham City and Aston Villa boss begins to make his influence felt remains to be seen.

McLeish, as he has readily acknowledged, is lucky to have been given the opportunity to take over at a club on the fringes of the play-offs, but the corollary is that a top-six finish is mandatory. Drawing at home to promotion rivals, and that courtesy of an equaliser deep in added time, is not a great start, and though McLeish, with only one training session under his belt, left selection of the side to the assistant team manager Rob Kelly, it would not be surprising to see a change in tactics, if not in personnel, when Forest travel to Blackburn Rovers on New Year's Day.

Or perhaps it will. McLeish reacted with irritation when, after saying Forest would cause teams problems if they kept playing that way, he was asked whether, under his direction, they would indeed keep "playing that way".

"Why would you tell good players not to pass the ball? I'm fed up with these questions. It's ridiculous they keep being asked, about style of play. I don't all of a sudden change styles of play, you play according to the players at your disposal."

Given the goal-a-game scoring records of the sides he put out over three seasons at Birmingham City and Aston Villa, Forest supporters may feel it to be a legitimate concern.

With just one win in their last seven games, the Palace manager Ian Holloway gave André Moritz a start in midfield, but of more concern to Forest was the presence of the prolific Glenn Murray up front. The Cumbrian has averaged a goal a game in the Championship this season and he duly took only nine minutes to make it 21 in 21 when he slid in at the far post to bundle Dean Moxey's low cross over the line. The sequence of passing that created the room for Moxey to cross had been impressive.

Forest could have done with Billy Sharp's clever stooping header from Radoslaw Majewski's cross after half an hour not rebounding clear of Julian Speroni's left-hand post, but the near miss gave Forest heart, and their work-rate must have warmed McLeish's heart.

Majewski and, in particular, Andy Reid began to see more and more of the ball on the flanks, and the Palace central defenders Danny Gabbidon and Peter Ramage were kept busy dealing with their many crosses. They did so effectively, but were helpless when Reid found a yard or two of space and, from 22 yards, rifled a shot beyond Speroni's dive.

It will have concerned McLeish, however, that Forest looked the more tired of the sides as the final few minutes approached, and when Murray out-jumped the Forest defence to head Jermaine Easter's cross over goalkeeper Lee Camp, that looked like that.

Palace have begun to make something of a speciality of letting leads slip, however, and deep into added time, Sharp, on a season-long loan from Southampton, was first to react to Lewis McGugan's header in the Palace penalty area, squeezing a shot against the post and then poking the ball over the line.

"It's the way things are going for us at the moment, getting ourselves into a winning position and then letting things slip," Holloway said.

"Our first goal was as good as goal as I've seen us score, and I'm very proud of the work ethic and the fantastic skill we showed."